Partisan PRO Act gets pushback

On July 22, the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing entitled, “The Right to Organize: Empowering American Workers in a 21st Century Economy.” This hearing centered around the PRO Act, the maligned federal legislation which would essentially eliminate the successful independent contractor model in the trucking industry. TCA and our industry partners have vocally opposed the PRO Act, and we have taken the time to carefully explain to members of Congress why this legislation would be detrimental to truckload carriers.

During the hearing, Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) strongly stood on the side of small businesses. He raised many concerns about the PRO Act, most notably that the entrepreneurial independent contractor has actively chosen to be a small business owner and that the government should not infringe upon that right. He also explained that, as a small business owner himself, he experienced difficulties operating in the state of California due to their overly restrictive labor rules.

TCA firmly believes the trend of California-specific legislation becoming the national standard must end. This is especially true for CA AB 5, which codifies the ABC test as the standard for determining employment status. The “B” prong of this test, which says that an independent contractor’s work must take place outside the usual course of the business, is completely unworkable in trucking.

The California Trucking Association is asking the Supreme Court to make a final determination on whether AB 5 should apply to trucking. But while the case proceeds, several truckload carriers have already stopped using independent contractors in California. As Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) pointed out during the HELP Committee hearing, AB 5 was amended to provide a vast number of industries and a wide range of different types of workers with an exemption from the law. The PRO Act currently contains no exemptions.